


Escalation & Resignation

by Ohms_Law



Series: COVER AU [3]
Category: Hololive, Virtual Streamer Animated Characters
Genre: AU, Gen, I'm Bad At Summaries, Paramilitary AU, Yakuza, end of prologue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:34:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29724267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohms_Law/pseuds/Ohms_Law
Summary: Kiryu Coco meets her intelligence team in disaster, while Roboco gets to know Aki.
Relationships: Roboco & Aki Rosenthal
Series: COVER AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2172159
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	1. Coco 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See that tag up there? Graphic Depictions of Violence? I know that was also in Fire Investigation, but it's much worse here. If you want to skip it, it starts at [There was a slight resistance as] and ends after [Five minutes later]. It won't ruin anything if you want to skip; the context that it was violent will be enough to follow.

Kiryu Coco hated doors. As tall as she was, Coco dealt with doorframes all the damn time. They were never low enough to make her fully duck, but almost always enough that she had to slow down and watch her scalp. In particularly frustrating cases, she would have to twist her head sideways to keep her horns from smacking into the side. Doors were an ever-present frustration only she ever seemed to deal with. If that wasn't symbolic of her life, Coco would eat someone again. 

Ironically, that disdain for doors often ended up saving Coco a lot of trouble. If you got her drunk enough, she might just say that symbolized her life too. 

Coco was on her way to her intelligence team. They were supposed to have a report ready in two days, but regular visits kept them honest. It'd been almost a month since A-chan had asked-and she did ask, Coco did not take orders-her to start gathering information on the mythobiological girl. Her men had taken to calling it Grim, which wasn't the name Coco would have chosen, but it worked fine for a file. Other than the name, however, her desk had been surprisingly empty. 

Well, that wasn't really true. The head of the Yakuza always had something she needed to be dealing with, but none of it involved scene girls fueled by dimension bullshit or whatever the fuck the space-elf had been on about. The lack of information just didn't sit right with Coco. Her intelligence team had worked for years and regularly came up with information they had no right having. The dragon had once jokingly asked for a file on someone who'd cut her off in traffic and it was on her desk by the end of the week. 

When she arrived at the office her team worked from, she stopped to assess the door. It was wide enough she wouldn't need any weird head movements for her horns, but she would need to slouch. For not the first time, she considered forcing them to build a bigger door. Revealing the door annoyed her would be showing weakness, but it was so damn frustrating!

As Coco reached for the door handle, a scream cut through the otherwise silent night. 

"How dare you even _suggest_ such betrayal!" It was Shibusawa, one of her oldest men. Coco dropped her hand. 

That certainly changed things. 

She'd arrived with a pretty simple plan: she'd mock them for not coming up with anything and demand to know what was stopping them. Regardless of the obstacle, she'd call them incompetent for letting something so trivial stop them. Afterward, the dragon would beat the shit out of whatever that obstacle was and await their report with plenty of beratement. 

But betrayal was different. Betrayal had to be met with overwhelming force. And she did really hate that door.

Coco turned halfway and put her full force into kicking the door. As expected, they had reinforced the door, but not the hinges. It flew into the room, slamming directly into the opposing wall. As it impacted, there was a loud crunch followed by a ringing sound. Someone had gotten trapped behind it, and their wailing suggested they wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. In hindsight, she probably should have made sure Shibusawa wasn't in the way, but no one is perfect.

"Good evening, motherfuckers." Coco walked through the newly opened entryway. She projected an air of absolute confidence but kept each person there in her sight. "A friend told me that y'all were havin' some trouble. But when I come to help like the generous boss I am, I find someone planning a conspiracy."

If Coco wanted to get through this without trouble, she'd need to be very careful. Minus Shibusawa and the improvised doorstop, there were still four other skilled fighters. Fortunately, all four of them were on the left of the door, so she wouldn't get surrounded. They'd been sitting around a square table, but everyone had stood up because of Coco's dramatic entrance. She knew at least a few of them could be armed, but she couldn't tell who. 

Hindsight was starting to get frustrating, and the ringing in her ears certainly didn't help.

"It's just a misunderstanding Boss," Shikkan spoke first. Aside from Shibusawa, his was the only name Coco bothered to remember. "Shibusawa is justing overreacting. We were just discussing whether or not to change strategies and-"

"Alright, shut up." Coco turned to Shibusawa. "What is going on?" Shibusawa was shaking with fury, and Coco's order released the floodgates. 

"These bastards were planning to ambush you! They are abhorrent and should be put to death immediately!" Spittle flew from his mouth as he ranted. It was disturbing for Coco to see. Shibusawa truly bought into the idea of the Yakuza as a family and took betrayal from his "brothers" extremely personally. However, he usually kept his head about him. Coco was sure that he at least wasn't armed. Otherwise, there'd almost certainly be a body by now. 

"Shibusawa, collect yourself," she ordered.

"He did something!" he screamed, waving his finger wildly at Shikkan. "I don't know what, but it was bad. He broke them! He broke Seijō and Jenerikku and Mukankei!"

Coco glanced over the other three men she assumed Shibusawa was talking about. Now that she paid attention, she could see they were unsteady on their feet. It was almost like they were on something. 

The dragon could feel a headache coming on. Why was nothing ever simple? And why was that damn ringing getting louder?

"Look, I _really_ don't want to deal with this. I don't suppose y'all could just sort it out yourselves? I'm just here for a fucking report." Maybe it wasn't the most distinguished response, but she dealt with enough shit already. Coco massaged her temples as the headache got worse. It was like someone had pulled off her horns and rammed them back in point first. "I left you alone for a month and you all lost it. Actually, no, I'm done. Just off yourselves."

Shibusawa and Shikkan stared at her blank-faced. Shikkan spoke slowly like she was a child. "You want us... to commit suicide?" For fucks sake, how was her intelligence team full of idiots? 

"No, when I said to off yourselves I clearly meant to jack it. Yes, that's what I meant!" 

Shikkan looked even more stupified, but Shibusawa found a new target for his rage. 

"You are the head of the Yakuza! How can you act so childishly?! You would demand death over mere annoyance?" The dumbass was actually vibrating. It would have been hilarious if it wasn't so out of character. "I see now why your own men won't follow you. I thought you flawed, but this is mad!"

Their boss narrowed her eyes. Betrayal again. Was something in the air or had they all started eating lead chips? 

Coco began walking towards Shibusawa. She kept a slow pace, carefully chosen to look apathetic. Shikkan, for all his previous composure, immediately back-peddled. He bumped into one of the other lemmings, who folded like a cheap deck of cards. The other two still hadn't moved. Whatever had happened to them, she wouldn't need to bother with dumb, dumber, and dumbest. 

Coco stopped with arm's reach of Shibusawa. His head was barely above her chest, but her old friend barely even flinched. It was almost impressive. 

"Well, you little shit," she said. "You don't seem to be followin' orders. Would you like some help?"

Coco swore she saw a flicker of remorse in his eyes. That was all the warning she had before Shibusawa aimed a sudden jab at her stomach. There was a loud clap as his fist connected with the palm of her hand. 

In the past, several of her men had asked her why she never carried weapons. She always gave the same answer: she didn't need them. 

Coco closed her fist around Shibusawa's and squeezed. There was a slight resistance as his bones locked against each other, but that gave way with a horrid series of cracking sounds that vaguely reminded her of popcorn. As he howled in agony, some of his bones stabbed into Coco's palm. The pain in her hand was a welcome distraction from the pain in her head.

Coco threw her hand straight up. She felt the satisfying pop as the traitor's shoulder dislocated and his feet left the ground. He was helpless as the dragon adjusted her hold to slam him back into the floor. A dark red stain spread over the paneling from the back of his head.

Coco threw her body over the former employee, using her weight to pin him down. She put her left arm over his injured shoulder and pulled her right hand back. What was left of Shibusawa struggled uselessly against her hold. Coco brought her fist down against his ribs, bashing over and over again. Even once his chest became more flesh than bone, she kept going. She kept bashing and bashing until there was no more Shibusawa left to struggle. 

Coco stood up, her enemy successfully mauled. She figured more of her skin was covered by blood than fabric by now, but that didn't matter. What mattered was there were more traitors, and her skull was still fucking ringing. Four more fleshbags until peace and quiet.

Five minutes later, Kiryu Coco left the office slimly as a newborn. The headache had stopped, but with its passing came the horror. The dragon was so preoccupied with her own thoughts, she didn't notice the rustling of black cloth from the corner of her eye. 

Something had gone horribly wrong. Wrong in a way Coco couldn't understand. Wrong in a way she didn't know how to fix. 

It was alright, though. The path from here to the river wasn't very populated. Coco could go wash off the blood without anyone seeing. She'd go back home and pretend everything was under control like she always did. The bodies in there were so damaged it'd look like an animal attacked them. 

After all, one did. 

* * *

Kiryu Coco was no longer the head of the Yakuza. It had been a part of her identity for so long, she still hadn't completely accepted it. However, Coco was still a pragmatist. She knew major changes were coming, and she needed to get in front of them. 

The first thing she needed to do was secure all the resources she had left. Coco walked through the main branch, stepping over bodies and discarded weapons. It had been a bloodbath. She'd seen larger battlefields before, but the scene before her hit close to home. For fucks sake, this was her home. 

Now though, it was a graveyard. Most of these men wouldn't get the funerals they wanted. They wouldn't be mourned by their brothers because there were no brothers left. Even in their last moments, they couldn't find peace since their assassins were their own brethren. 

There were other branches of the Yakuza, but they wouldn't last long. Coco had very intentionally made the entire network interdependent. Some needed extra protection, some needed extra income, but each branch required something the others provided. Without the main branch, they'd be forced to turn on each other to survive. Whatever remained of the winners wouldn't last a week against the enemies she'd made. 

All of that was assuming this same mass fratricide hadn't happened in the other branches too. While the former head was often brash, she wasn't a fool. The events here were eerily similar to what had happened to the intelligence team. Those men were handpicked to handle secrets Coco was hesitant to show governments: they'd never turn on her. Something had warped them. It'd warped her too. 

Coco reached the door to her office. There was a body slumped in front of it, but she tossed it aside with one hand. Inside, she found her auditing laptop. This device was the only one allowed to handle financial transactions within her accounts. Attempts to access them, even with the correct password, would be rejected from other IPs. 

She sat down at her desk and logged onto the laptop, triple-checking her password before entering. Putting in the wrong password would factory reset the device, and reobtaining access to her money would become a nightmare. 

Looking at the accounts, she stopped to consider what she was about to do. Her men thought they had private accounts with their money, but in reality, Coco held everything. When they withdrew or moved funds, Coco automatically moved an equivalent amount from her slush fund. The best paid of her men never used most of what they had, and particularly extravagant spenders were mocked for their lack of restraint. Effectively, Coco spent much less money than her salaries would suggest. She made sure the books were always balanced afterward, so no one noticed. However, since her men thought they were quite well off, a lot of promises were made, and a lot of ghost money changed hands. As long as she followed through on those transactions, it all ended up the same.

With a single click, Coco was going to undo all of that. Through a maze of transfers between overseas and sister accounts in carefully chosen quantities, everything in the Yakuza system would end up in a set of secondary accounts only she controlled. For the first time in almost a decade, the slush fund would be empty. At first, no one would notice, but when someone's card got declined or a monthly payment wasn't made, it would spread like wildfire.

The realization that so much of the money in the underground wasn't real would start a chain reaction. In total, less than 5% of the money moving through Japan's criminal enterprises was Coco's ghost money, but people wouldn't know that. Every transaction they'd made had a chance of disappearing when someone checked. Suddenly desperate people would call in debts only to find out some weren't real. Debts that were real would be enforced on a massive and brutal scale. Those who couldn't pay would be punished because there'd be no one else to blame. 

There would be casualties from this. There would probably be a few dozen within a week, but the knock-on effects were on a different scale entirely.

Coco clicked the button. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry in advance, the length of these chapters is going to be kind of weird. Originally this was just one story that changed POV, but it turns out that endnotes have a 5,000 character limit. I have too much I want to talk about to fit into that limit, so I broke the story into three. This EN will talk about just this chapter.  
> 1: I tried to make the "fight" here violent in a different way than Fire Investigation. The violence in Fire Investigation is about merciless brutality. Amelia enjoys fighting in the same way someone enjoys a competitive sport: she loves the challenge of a tough opponent, but she'd never give it anything but her best.  
> Coco, however, is a dragon (profound, I know). She fights off raw instinct and I wanted the scene to reflect that. I think I pulled it off, but it wasn't fun to write. I actually toned back several of the gorier details so Coco wouldn't seem serial killer evil. I don't think I'll be getting this violent again anytime soon. The NSA agent reading my search history is going to have an unpleasant day.  
> 2: I know pretty much nothing about Japanese names. Since I figured most of you guys don't either, I just put some words into Google Translate and chose what came out. For example, Shikkan means disease. The three guys Shikkan drugged were called Seijō, Jenerikku, and Mukankei. Those translate to, in order: normal, generic, and irrelevant. Sucks to be them, but I was not handling a six-way conversation for characters we'd never see again. Shibusawa is the odd man out since his name is a real one. I'd just been watching Talentless Nana (wonderful anime, highly recommend watching blind), and one of the characters' name just stuck in my head.  
> 3: So, you've probably noticed the language/culture issue. In the last two stories, the language characters spoke was ambiguous, but there's no way Coco and Co. (I am extremely proud of this but I couldn't work it into the story) are speaking anything but Japanese. I included honorifics all the way up to the final draft, but I just cut them ten minutes ago. I'm not confident enough in my understanding of them to think I got it right. I'm a relatively new weeb and incorrect honorifics have taken me out of stories before. Plus, if I explicitly show them as speaking Japanese, then how does wordplay work? Therefore, I'm invoking my Author Privilege to ignore honorifics. I'm also ignoring cultural stuff. In Japan, there ought to be more bowing and indoor shoes and such, but... just no. For the sake of my sanity, I'm going to pretend the entire world runs on vaguely western culture.  
> 4: So, I'll admit, I decided to put Coco in charge of the Yakuza before I completely understood them. Almost all of my knowledge came from watching clips of a couple of Yakuza games and Fuyuhiko from Danganronpa 2. When I set about making Coco's part, I decided to do some thorough research. If the Yakuza were just being mentioned offhandedly, then my barebones knowledge was fine. In this part though, they were going to be appearing and interacting with Coco, who's been running the show for a while. Coco is knowledgeable about the Yakuza, and the writing should reflect that; surface-level observations wouldn't cut it. So I set about researching the Yakuza, and lo and behold, they're really fucking complicated. They're so complicated, in fact, that to do them justice I'd need to dedicate loads of time to planning and expositing. Ultimately, the Yakuza were supposed to be a plot device for Coco to apply a convenient amount of power and influence in Japan. I feel like I'd be doing the Yakuza dirty if I didn't give them loads of room to evolve, but I don't have room for that in this story. I'm already juggling more plotlines and story elements than an amateur like me has any right to. So, I cheated and removed the Yakuza.  
> The Yakuza were always going to be destroyed at some point or another. They have to for some of the stuff I have planned later (although considering plans only one fic in the future are getting dropped faster than Amelia's British accent, the reason for removing the Yakuza probably won't make it. But I can't plan for ideas I haven't had yet, so futile retooling shall remain).  
> Again, sorry for the weirdness. I'd like to say this is a one-off issue, but it'll almost certainly happen again. It was fairly simple to solve here, but if a future story doesn't have convenient points for different sections I may have to post a second chapter of just my endnotes. They only seem to get longer with every fic I write. At this rate, I'll end up with an endnote longer than the story itself.


	2. Roboco

**obj.Akirose is attractive;**

Roboco watched Aki fiddle with the dial of her microscope. She was leaning down, looking at a sample of some material Roboco hadn't recorded. Her long, blonde pigtails flowed down over her back. The slight shifting of the floating machines they came from continually drew Roboco's attention. Every time she saw Aki's hair, she inevitably looked at Aki's back beneath it, which led to her looking at Aki's figure as a whole. Once she did, she would inevitably be informed that:

**obj.AkiRose is attractive;**

Roboco's systems were strangely intent on this assessment. It wasn't an uncommon conclusion for the Black Box to draw, but the level of repetition was unique. 

**Flagged activity in accounts YakuzaFinance;**

**Flagged activity in accounts CocoFinance4;**

**Flagged activity in accounts CocoFinance6;**

**Flagged activity in accounts CocoFinanceSecret2;**

It seemed that Coco was doing more creative accounting. Roboco had told the Box to watch Coco's transactions so it could learn suspicious behavior. Once it had, Roboco could set it to inspect other accounts. Anyone who moved money the way Coco did was someone COVER should know about. 

Roboco put the alerts together and added them to **array.RobocoToDo**. Her list was getting longer than she liked. Once she was done with Aki, she'd need to clear a lot of items. 

**obj.AkiRose is nervous(78.26%);**

"Are you nervous Aki?" Roboco asked.

"Huh?" The scientist jumped slightly, leaning up from her microscope. The floatation devices trailed perfectly behind her, always in the same relative position. "Oh, no, I'm fine. I promise." 

**EmotAnalysis(obj.AkiRose, 43) tagged as disputed and under review;**

The Black Box was becoming more accurate at reading emotions, but Roboco knew it was far from finished. It seemed to have a significantly inflated error rate reading Aki for reasons the android couldn't figure out. The Black Box was exactly what it was called: a black box. Roboco could give it instructions and it would follow them, but it never explained how it did what it did. The Box also seemed to have functions that disagreed with her. Roboco had told it to stop sending returns about the half-elf's beauty, but it persisted. 

Still, the Box was the only tool she had to act within her own system, so she had to use it. 

"Roboco, I..." Aki cleared her throat. "I'd like to ask you something if that's alright. And it's fine if it isn't, of course!"

"Do you need assistance with the sample?" Aki was confused **(88.1%)** , so Roboco clarified. "You have been examining Sample C for 6 minutes and 46 seconds without making notes. I would like to assist."

"The sample... right!" Aki bounced as she comprehended. It was a habit Roboco had not observed in anyone else. 

**obj.AkiRose is attractive;**

The half-elf continued, ignorant of the Black Box's endearment. 

"No, I don't need help. It's actually the opposite." The opposite of needing help was either not needing help or helping someone else. It was one of the most inconsistent items in **array.TurnOfPhrase** since it could be either the negation or the inversion of an idea. In this case, Roboco thought she understood. Aki had already confirmed a negation before the phrase and repetition was discouraged in speech. 

"Do you want to help me?" Aki nodded, relieved **(56.0%)** . Roboco checked the contents of **array.RobocoToDo**.

**for all tag (array.RobocoToDo == obj.AkiRose) return array.RobocoToDo(num);**

**returned: null;**

"There is nothing you can assist me with," Roboco reported. None of the tags on her list matched tags on Aki. The half-elf nodded slowly, shuffling her feet.

**obj.AkiRose is upset(93.765%);**

Roboco was not satisfied with this outcome. She knew that her concern for Aki's wellbeing was irrationally high, but she didn't care. She attempted a more thorough search. 

**create array.ListForAki;**

**for all tag (System.Roboco.* == obj.AkiRose) append to array.ListForAki;**

**WARNING: EXECUTION WILL REQUIRE MORE THAN ALLOCATED PROCESSING TO COMPLETE WITHIN RATIONAL TIME - EXECUTION CANCELLED;**

"I will be unaware of my surroundings for a time," Roboco said. "Please ensure I am not harmed." Before Aki could respond, she began rebalancing her resources.

**set System.Roboco.ProcDistr = MoarGar;**

**returned: New distribution: Upkeep(0.15) + Safety(0.09) + FreeUse(0.54) + Sensorium(0.02) + SelfRegulation(0.2);**

**for all tag (System.Roboco == obj.AkiRose) append to array.ListForAki;**

**sort.priority4 array.ListForAki;**

**return array.ListForAki[0];**

**returned: String note.EmotAnalysis14 = "Determine source of error relating to obj.AkiRose";**

**set System.Roboco.ProcDistr = Robocool;**

**returned: New distribution: Upkeep(0.15) + Safety(0.21) + FreeUse(0.22) + Sensorium(0.2) + SelfRegulation(0.2);**

Roboco's knowledge of the world around her resumed. The 2% allocation to her senses while **MoarGar** was active only gave her enough awareness to remember she existed. With distribution back to normal, the android began processing data from her cameras and microphone again.

**obj.AkiRose is scared(69.3%);**

"-boco? Roboco, tell me what you're doing." Aki was standing in front of Roboco, kneeling slightly so she was face-to-face. "Do I need to get your technicians?" 

"I found a task for you to help me with." Roboco had needed to get creative with her request, but it had worked. The Black Box had gone through all the internal code Roboco was allowed access to and found everything that could connect to Aki. It then told her the most important item it'd found. **array.ListForAki** was so large she'd need to delete it later. 

Aki shook her head, bewildered **(65.2%)**.

"Roboco... You didn't move for almost five minutes. I was worried about you!" The android tilted her head to display confusion. "Don't look at me like that. You could've been overheating or something." 

"If I was overheating, you would have been in danger. In the future, please flee if you believe I am about to die."

**obj.AkiRose is unknownEmote;**

**EmotAnalysis(obj.AkiRose, 49) tagged as uncertain and under review;**

"I wou-how could you-why-" Aki cut her sentence fragments off. "Don't say that Roboco. Just... don't."

**audio file added to obj.AkiRose.advice;**

Without knowledge of Aki's emotions, proceeding further would be hazardous. Roboco nodded to convey understanding. 

"I am sorry." Roboco tried apologizing. She knew that apologizing often helped decrease tension.

"You aren't." Aki turned around and went back to her microscope. "I appreciate the effort, but I know you don't get it." Under her breath, she added, "Hell, I barely do."

**obj.AkiRose is unknownEmote;**

**EmotAnalysis(obj.AkiRose, 50) tagged as uncertain and under review;**

Everything was still uncertain. Roboco couldn't decide how to communicate without information about the other person. Maybe she could create a new profile, just for this conversation, and treat Aki as someone new. It might be jarring to her, but would that be worse than a random choice? 

Roboco created a simulation and tested other people's profiles. **obj.AChan** would've accepted the apology, so she wasn't relevant. **obj.ShiBo** would return to neutral after a day, regardless of what Roboco did. Were Botan and Aki similar enough to use that? Maybe, but her choice not mattering didn't give Roboco guidance. **obj.NakAya** would need to be slowly coaxed back into comfort. The only other profile Roboco had with enough depth to be used like this was **obj.KirCo** and that was a terrible idea.

"Aki..." Roboco began. She lengthened the wavelength of her speech and adjusted the volume to create a soothing sound pattern. "If you still want to help, I did find something. In fact, you're the only one I think could."

Aki barely reacted, but the Black Box noticed something. 

**obj.AkiRose is curious(32.4%);**

The Box rarely gave Roboco probabilities under 50%, so she latched onto it. 

"Please, all I need is to talk to you." Aki looked up from the sample she obviously wasn't examining. 

"How is talking to you something only I can do?" 

"I am currently developing an improved emotional analysis program via machine learning," Roboco explained. "Currently, most of the difficulties I have encountered have come from you. The error margin of your returns is far higher than anyone else. If I received more data, it would improve the program."

Aki shook her head. 

**obj.AkiRose is sad(66.2%);**

**obj.AkiRose is upset(58.3%);**

"It was just a dumb question. Don't make up something for me, I'll-" 

"I cannot lie to you," Roboco interrupted.

"Wait, do you mean that literally?" Aki asked. Her interest **(74.22%)** warred with her **unknownEmote** , but in her heart, she was a scientist. "You are physically incapable of lying? Why?"

"I am unable to act with the intent to deceive or mislead another person unless otherwise directed by my owner." The android knew her limitations intimately. They were the reason she wasn't a person, after all. "I believe it was intended to prevent me from inhibiting my maker, as several other restrictions follow the same theme." Aki was curious **(81.0%)** , so she elaborated.

"I am unable to act with the intent to subvert or invalidate any of my limitations unless otherwise directed by my owner. I am unable to act with the intent to permanently injure and/or kill another human being unless otherwise directed by my owner. I am unable to read the contents of the Black Box outside of pre-assigned return functions unless otherwise directed by my owner. I am unable to act with the intent to damage myself unless otherwise directed by my owner. I must act to carry out in totality any orders given to me by my owner." 

Aki was silent for 3.3 seconds. When she did speak, it was slowly.

"Who... who is your owner?"

"I do not know. That information has been corrupted. A-chan and my technicians have repeatedly recommended not to attempt to recover the data." Roboco didn't know why they were so insistent, but the Box seemed to agree since it had quarantined **obj.Owner**. 

Aki nodded to herself.

"I'm glad. Why would someone do that?" 

"I believe my owner created the restrictions to prevent me from taking action they didn't want. The exceptions built into each rule imply that they were unsure of my judgment. My inability to fully access the Black Box also suggests a desire to keep certain information from me." Roboco repeated the mention of the Box in hopes Aki would ask about it. If she did, Roboco could direct the conversation towards more scientific subjects. Unfortunately, the android was wrong.

"Are you okay?" Aki asked. "I don't know what you went through, and I don't know how to help. I'm so sorry..."

**return System.Roboco.Status;**

**returned: nominal;**

Roboco was baffled; she was entirely unharmed. Aki's apology was also unconnected to anything that had been previously said. **emotAnalysis** was entirely failing to return anything useful. 

**Flagged activity from search term "Yakuza";**

The android immediately filed the report away in **array.RobocoToDo**. She'd deal with it once she figured out Aki. 

Roboco began setting up simulations when the half-elf shook her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't pry. It's your story to tell." Roboco tore down her simulations. This conversation was moving too fast for a simulation to be viable. Desperately, the android tried to come up with something to say, but nothing worked. She stood silently processing for 2 minutes and 12 seconds before she received a message.

**Message from obj.Achan.phone = String "Aki has been ignoring my calls. It is extremely important. Tell her to get over here, she usually listens to you.";**

**Message reply.randConfirm;**

**Message to obj.Achan.phone = String "I will do that for you.";**

"A-chan says that you've been ignoring her. She wants you to go to her."

Aki nodded slightly, still **unknownEmote**. 

"When you ignore someone six times, it's supposed to send a message." She sighed. "Fine, maybe it's better to say it in person. I hate to ask, but could-"

"I will gladly clean up your experiment."

"Thank you," she said earnestly **(50.4%)**. Aki straightened her shoulders and left the lab. Roboco watched her as she left.

**obj.AkiRose is attractive;**

Once the half-elf was gone, Roboco went to collect the sample. It had been ruined by exposure to the air. If it couldn't handle the chemicals in the air, why had Aki been examining it like this? It was another aspect of Aki she couldn't understand. 

Roboco considered deleting the previous conversation from her logs. She'd gotten a lot of data, but the log was extremely unpleasant to read. The Black Box had been recording snippets anyway, and she couldn't delete those. Although, if she was specific about it, she might be able to get the Box to write over that data and

**Malicious items identified by System.Roboco.Watchman;**

**return: String "I'm afraid I can't let you do that Dave";**

**Malicious items deleted;**

Roboco trashed the sample which had been ruined by exposure to the air. If it couldn't handle the chemicals in the air, why had Aki been examining it like this? It was another aspect of Aki she couldn't understand. 

Roboco considered deleting the previous conversation from her logs. She'd gotten a lot of data, but the log was extremely unpleasant to read. The Black Box had been recording snippets anyway, and she couldn't delete those. In the end, she decided to leave the logs alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1: Roboco, Roboco. The moment I thought of how to adapt Roboco for this AU, I knew she was going to be a prevalent character in this story. She's just so useful.  
> If you'll bear with my tangent for a moment, I'd like to explain. Have you ever seen a police show, like Law & Order? If not, an almost universal feature is that every show will either have a "tech guy" or a "walking encyclopedia." Criminal Minds even has both! The reason they're so prevalent is that they serve the role of the expositor. In real life, people spend a lot of time researching relevant information, but that's boring. For example, when our investigators find a type of dirt that only grows in a specific area, imagine if we watched them look up a topographical map and research the contents of the dirt in each region. It would entirely break the pacing and kill the stakes of the victim who's just about to be killed before our heroes show up (procedurals are a guilty pleasure of mine, but damn do they get repetitive). The expositor allows the show to skip all of that. The audience just accepts that the expositor knows, and we can move on. You have to suspend your disbelief a little, but it's par for the course.  
> Roboco is the absolutely perfect expositor for me. She's inside COVER, but the Black Box means she's also able to be watching anything she could conceivably follow via the internet. The idea of super-AI being nigh-omniscient is so common I don't even need to explain it. I just have to say computer brain and everyone accepts Roboco as a master of Google-fu.  
> 2: Of course, there's more to Roboco than that. If I just wanted exposition, I had other options. An early draft of Roboco was essentially just Jarvis. However, Roboco also offers me an opportunity to play with the internal politicking of COVER. I've been relatively nice to everyone inside the administration, but I don't want that to remain forever. I think a sign of great writing is when an author can make two characters you like come into conflict without making you turn on either. I am not a great author, but I'd like to try to be one. Roboco and her Black Box lets the narration peer into the minds of other characters without necessarily explaining everything.  
> Also, she's just fun to write. Writing dialogue without any indication of mood or tone opens up so many opportunities for double-meanings. Unfortunately, the text surrounding the dialogue becomes repetitive, but in a way, that fits Roboco.  
> 3: I'm pretty apprehensive about the code. I'm taking courses in computer science, so I tried to make the pseudocode consistent with how an actual system might work, but I ended up cutting a lot of corners for readability. I'm happy with how it turned out, but I don't know if everyone reading could follow. Let me know if you all don't like it, and I'll try to tone it down.  
> To quickly explain some of the more potentially confusing parts, anything that starts with "array." is a list of whatever is described by the name after the dot.  
> I'm playing pretty fast and loose with how tags work, but here they're just descriptors attached to an object. Tags are used so that other parts of the code can decide whether or not to interact with the object. For example, obj.AkiRose will have tags like "humanoid," "sentient," and "friend." When Roboco wants to find something related to her friends, she'll look for all the "friend" tags.  
> The "=" symbol means a definition. So when Roboco sets System.Roboco.ProcDistr = MoarGar, she's saying that System.Roboco.ProcDistr now has the value of MoarGar. The symbol "==" means a comparison. Looking for all tags where array.RobocoToDo == obj.AkiRose will find every instance of a matching tag (fun fact: this is one of the places I cut corners. Actually finding every single matching tag would be a much larger and more complex task, but I'm not writing 20+ lines of pseudocode for that).  
> I hope that cleared up any questions. If there's a part you're still confused about, comment below and I'll do my best to explain.


	3. Coco 2

Robel was the second strangest bar in Japan. It was in the middle of nowhere but was constantly occupied. Despite operating without any level of secrecy, on the underground seemed to notice it. Everyone who knew about it agreed it was neutral ground. Thieves, gangs, assassins, and more all respected the boundary. If you met your mortal enemy, you stepped outside before the deathmatch. Inside, supernatural beings regularly rubbed shoulders with loan sharks and mobsters. No one knew how the truce had begun, but those who didn't respect it would have their own families turn on them. The peace never should have held, but, impossibly, it did.

The only reason Robel wasn't the strangest bar in Japan was that the Soratobu Enban was abducted by aliens. The entire bar. 

After stopping to examine the door, Coco walked into the bar and immediately headed for the counter. People took note of her, of course, but then returned to their own business. The dragon herself didn't bother trying to identify anyone there. While it wasn't technically against the truce, it was still heavily taboo to use the knowledge gained inside to your advantage. 

Once she arrived, Coco sat down and slammed her hand onto the counter hard enough to leave a dent. The bartender was talking to someone else, but Coco stared them down. After a moment, the other person shuffled away.

The bartender came over to her, putting on an amused smile. 

"Damaging my property and intimidating my customers. I really ought to ask you to leave, shouldn't I?" Coco dropped a wad of bills onto the counter. She had no idea how much it was, but she didn't care.

"Cut the shit Roberu. I'm not in the mood to play." 

Yukoku Roberu dropped the facade. His smile remained, but it turned sly.

"It's rude to come in here and not buy anything, but I assume this is for your tab too." Roberu scooped up the bills and put them under the counter. "So, what can I do for a fine dragon like yourself?"

"Information," she said bluntly. "The usual deal. Half up front, half on delivery, with extra based on how good it is."

Roberu's face froze. He still grinned, but all the microexpressions underneath disappeared. Coco knew that meant he was about to start sparring.

"Now, I'm just a humble bartender. What could I possibly know that the infamous Kiryu Coco doesn't? You have quite the reputation for that, you know? Finding out things you shouldn't. Or had, anyway." Coco stilled. "A little birdie told me your crack team got their own skulled cracked in."

"I'm here to make a deal, not gossip," she said. "Your bird can go fuck itself."

"Are you alright?" Roberu asked. He layered his voice with the fakest concern he could. "That insult wasn't up to your normal standard. I've come to expect more from you. Something about cloacas, maybe, or at least a double-entendre." Coco's patience was waning.

"I want information. You have it. How much fucking simpler can I make it?" 

Roberu didn't react, but she could feel the smugness radiating from him. He'd gotten under her skin, and he knew it.

"Alright then. If it's the usual amount, then you'll be paying cash?" Coco stopped herself from frowning. 

"Wire transfer, like always." Roberu had an incredible accountant. Whomever they were, they managed to take the massive amount of blood money flowing into this place and turn it clean. She'd looked into his finances before, and it was nothing short of miraculous. The man paid taxes on his illegal income, seemingly because he felt like it.

Roberu clicked his tounge. 

"Yesterday, I might have taken that, but your credit score isn't what it used to be. I've heard frankly awful stories about money that suddenly gave up the ghost." 

He knew. He knew about the ghost money. It hadn't even been two hours, how the fuck did he know?!

"Fine," she spat. "I'll give you everythin' in cash. Give a bit to put it together. I ain't exactly the most liquid right now." 

"No, I don't think I will," the bartender said. "You've burned way too many bridges for that. What you did is gonna make my customers tear each other apart. I can't exactly serve beer to corpses, and you're desperate." Coco started to speak, but he cut her off. "If you weren't desperate, you'd have asked me about this before you broke the underground. As it is, you have no leverage, and I don't particularly like you."

Oh. Oh, that's what this was going to be. 

"Roberu, there was recently an attack on the main branch of the Yakuza." Coco spoke in monotone, enunciating each word like she was explaining math to a child. "It was done via a mental-type weapon of some sort. That weapon made everyone inside slaughter each other. From what I saw, the last man standing put a bullet in his face. I want to know what that was and who did it. So I am going to ask you nicely to accept my money. I'm going to be nice because I've learned that people respond better to it. 

"However, I'm also going to threaten you. I'm not going to threaten to expose the information ring you have going. Everyone who matters knows you record every inch of this bar. I'm pretty sure you could live with that getting out. I'm not going to threaten your life because I don't think you're sane enough to care about it. Instead, I'm going to threaten this country. You're clever enough to realize that I don't intend to stay in Japan long. By this time tomorrow, most of this room will want me dead. I want you to consider that.

"I'm older than you can imagine. Based on your family name, there's a better than even chance I took your grandfather's virginity. I am willing to wait for generations before I come back to Japan. I can do whatever the fuck I want and not suffer a single bit from it. And right now, I want you to give me information. I have no limits, no barriers to how much damage I can do. What's happening to the underground right now was collateral damage. I'm a dragon. We don't burn bridges. We burn kingdoms."

Having said her piece, Coco waited. She knew Roberu cared about others. In the grand scheme of things, the wars coming wouldn't affect his bar-they never did. The only reason he'd be mad at her was if he disapproved.

After a long time, he spoke. His grin was gone, only a blank face underneath.

"You wouldn't get away with it. There are people who deal with threats like you. A paramilitary group, active globally." Coco laughed. She didn't mean to, but she couldn't help herself once she realized who he meant.

"You mean COVER, don't you? I fucking  _ own _ COVER. All of that renowned information gathering? It's my teams! The weapons they make come from my suppliers. Hell, the reason the UN doesn't give a shit is because of the photos I have. They aren't heroes, they're my fucking cleanup crew!"

Coco watched the gears turn in Roberu's head. If he knew about COVER then he knew about all the strangeness she'd just listed. If he assumed it was her, a lot of things clicked into place. 

"Fine," he hissed. "Fine, I'll give you whatever the fuck you want. I'll figure out what happened, just get out of my bar!"

Coco stood up.

"I'll send you the money. How will you get in contact-"

"I don't want your fucking money! I'll send someone, just get out!" His screaming had alerted the other patrons. Coco felt all the eyes on her as she left.

The Rubicon had been crossed. There was no home left for her in Japan. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1: Fun fact, this story is the first time I've used male pronouns. Shibusawa is the first male character in one of my stories, and Roberu is the first Holostars member. Admittedly, I probably really screwed up Roberu's personality. I read all his wiki pages and looked at clips, but there weren't loads to work with. It's an AU, so I get a bit of liberty, but do let me know if I dropped the ball.   
> 2: This story finishes most of what I've been thinking of as the "prologue." The dominoes have started to fall, and the momentum will only keep building. Since we're about to be transitioning into much more narratively connected events, I have some questions about what you'd like.   
> So far, I've been releasing each of these as a separate story under the same series. At the time, I did that to clearly distinguish them so that if someone wanted to read without getting stuck on a cliffhanger, they could. If I could go back, I'd probably have made Directorate Meeting into the second chapter of Fire Investigation and might have attached this one to it as well. My first question is, where do you want the line for a new chapter vs. a new story to be? If everything goes to plan (cue laughter), then the next story will have multiple chapters running through a single large event. However, I also intend for it to set up future events. Should the fallout be a second story? Like Directorate Meeting, it won't make any sense without the preceding events, but I'm making a series: none of it makes sense out of context. Should I make a different story for each "arc" (which would look like the last three stories as chapters of a single fic) or keep doing it like I am?   
> My second question is about how you want me to release the story. Since there will (probably) be chapters, do you want me to release them one-by-one over time or to give you the full story at once? Essentially, this question boils down to if you'd like less but more often and with cliffhangers, or more but less often and a complete story. Regardless of how you all answer either question, you'll still get the same content. I'd just like to know how you want it formatted.
> 
> Next time we'll catch up with the A-team and have more central plot progress. See you then!  
> I also have a Twitter, if you care: @Ohmslaw7922


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